Enemies on the Horizon-Episode 2: Desert Chase

The heroes prepare to leave immediately to follow the fresh trail left by Miss Doyle’s abductors and the course set out in her cryptic journal message. If they wait to leave much past dawn they risk losing the tracks or endangering Doyle’s safety.
If they’re organized the characters can gather and pack everything they need into the back of their lorry in an hour. Unfortunately they have no other means of transportation conveniently at hand; they’d have to go back to Cairo to find a suitable car for crossing the desert. If they could round up some camels they’d have more reliable transport, though they’d slow up the truck.

Supplies

The heroes have plenty of supplies (having just returned from a trip to Cairo in the past few days) and recently had maintenance done on their lorry. Anyone with experience traveling through the desert (explorers, Bedouin, military personnel) who makes a Reg navigate or survival roll thinks to bring along all the reed mats they can gather from the floors of the tents. These give a bonus to “unsticking” the lorry should its tires get bogged down in soft sand among the desert dunes. Those with connections with desert explorers might have access to a sun compass, enabling the lorry to stay on course by using the sun to determine the direction rather than a magnetic needle confused by the truck’s metal body. This allows the heroes to better maintain direction and reduces their chances of straying from their charted course. The heroes have the following items in their excavation equipment that might help them in their chase across the desert. Loss or damage to any of them could place their expedition in severe peril:

• Food: These supplies of dry goods, canned food, and preserved meat can feed the group for one week.
• Water: Several aluminum cans carry enough water to sustain the characters for one week and refresh the lorry’s radiator once.
• Compass: The group’s single compass doesn’t work near the lorry, whose metal construction confuses the needle. To use it properly, the heroes must halt their progress and move at least 30 feet from truck. This slows their pursuit as they stop frequently to check their bearing.
• Theodolite: Any character with the navigate skill can use this surveying instrument in tracking the sun and stars to chart one’s position in the desert. If used properly it offers a small bonus to related navigate rolls.
• Watch: One character has an accurate pocket watch necessary for computing their progress by dead reckoning (figuring mileage based on one’s speed). It’s also required to accurately use the theodolite.
• Binoculars: The clear desert air allows people to see far, and binoculars can help bring faraway objects into closer focus. The group has one pair that offers the user a small bonus on notice rolls.
• Map: Since the expedition was more concerned with digging around Sakkara, it only has a rudimentary map of Egypt and the desert west of the Nile. It’s barely adequate for navigating and doesn’t offer much detail about geographical features in the area.
• Tools: The heroes can gather plenty of shovels and other digging implements from their camp. Altogether they can muster one shovel for each character, two picks, a crowbar, and any number of reed baskets used to haul away sand. The shovels become especially helpful in unsticking the truck should it get bogged down in soft sand.
• Tents: Since temperatures can reach both extremes in the desert, the heroes should bring along some camping equipment to afford shelter at night and during any daytime rest periods. The lorry doesn’t provide adequate cover or shade for extended camping.

Anyone making a Regular Track roll can follow the trail left by Doyle’s assailants. Tracks can remain in the sand for years if undisturbed by storms or human intervention. Checking navigational information along the way confirms they’re following the route specified in Doyle’s journal. The heros can cover as much as 200-240 miles a day assuming they drive for eight hours, maintain a speed of between 25 and 30 mph, and avoid any significant mishaps. At this rate they can reach the point specified in Doyle’s cryptic note in the afternoon or early evening of the second day of driving.

Great Sand Sea (Aka Western Desert of Egypt, historically as the "Libyan Desert"

The hero driving the lorry must make frequent Regular Drive skill checks to avoid mishaps on the varied desert terrain. The degree of failure might indicate how damaging and delaying the mishap.
The truck could topple from the top of a dune if mishandled. Rough driving over difficult ground might damage the axles, tires, or even the engine. Avoiding patches of soft sand that can bog down the truck’s tires takes practice and experience. If the lorry get stuck in soft sand the heroes must expend an hour’s time and some elbow grease to coax it out onto firmer ground.

Stowaway Cat:

Several hours into their desert journey the heroes discover a friendly housecat among the cargo they’ve loaded into their truck. The cat nuzzles them and meows for attention, but otherwise doesn’t prove a nuisance. If the characters evict the cat and exile it to almost certain death in the desert sands, they bring upon their heads a string of bad luck throughout the rest of the adventure. Should they befriend the cat and show it every kindness, it bestows upon them one miraculous rescue elsewhere in the scenario; a near miss with almost fatal danger that one could only chalk up to a cat’s nine lives.  

Glinting Reflection:

Around midday the heroes spot a reflection on the horizon. Is it someone watching them with binoculars, or a clue left behind by Doyle? If they investigate they discover the corner of an aluminum water can sticking out of the sand and reflecting the sunlight. It’s one of several abandoned here and hastily covered with sand, the remains of a supply dump left here by someone who knew its location and needed to replenish their water in a hurry. Anyone searching the refuse discovers a dainty handkerchief everyone recognizes as the one Vera Doyle used to mop her brow when working in the hot confinesof the tomb.  

Abandoned Camp:

Near sunset on their first day of travel the heroes reach a remarkable geological formation called Mushroom Rock, a teetering boulder balanced on a smaller mound. The landmark stands within sight of the track leading from the Nile to Siwa Oasis to the northwest. Here the characters spot a pair of wandering camels still wearing their harness yet without any riders. They’re milling about a dune where anyone making a Regular Track roll can determine the Bedouin probably stopped at noon for relief from the midday sun; footprints, empty food tins, and cigarette butts betray their presence. If the characters aren’t careful they might stumble upon a buried land mine that could escalate the mission’s urgency if anyone sustains serious wounds. Tire tracks lead off from one end of the former campsite in the direction indicated by Doyle’s message.  

Bedouin Refugees:

The next morning the heroes spot a small group of Bedouin riding camels heading their way. From its composition—weary women, starving children, and a few wounded men—and some compassionate interaction they learn that they are refugees fleeing their territory in the Libyan deserts in the face of frequent raids by Italian military forces establishing a presence at various towns and oases. If questioned about others traveling in the desert, they mention spotting a cloud of dust to the south of their course. Although it was moving westward, they assumed any vehicle in this area belonged to the belligerent Italian desert patrols and thus avoided it. They gladly accept any aid offered; the refugees hope to find a new, safer life under the protection of the British in Egypt.